Molly's first hospital stay, Pt 3

Thursday (Thanksgiving) through Saturday were pretty calm at the hospital. We had a few visitors (Nana, my favorite uncles Kristian and Mac and their amazing wives, and Daddy's boss even stopped by), but mostly it was long and boring. The doctors said that if her lab results on Saturday were no worse than before, she would be able to go home after they gave her the first pegaspargase chemo treatment. We spent those last three days at home cleaning the house and bleaching all the toys, and at the hospital keeping Molly happy with treats and activities, and I created a new crochet pattern for a "chemo cap," which I tested on Big Sis and found I made it too big.

Molly was now being given steroids three times a day, and because her blood pressure was up she is also taking 1x/day amlodipine (NORVASC). Molly had a mild fever right after her surgery and so the doctor also prescribed a 3x/day ceftazidime (FORTAZ) to be given through her IV port for 14 days.

The social worker gave us a lot of information on networks for parents and applications for financial aid. There was a lot of stuff in there such as Make-a-Wish Foundation, American Cancer Society, and even a medicaid application (because technically for the next 2.5 years Molly is disabled or something).

We did ask one of the oncologists how soon Molly would lose her hair, and she said that by the end of the induction phase her hair will be noticeably thinner. 

On Friday was Molly's 2nd birthday, and the social worker asked permission to have the nurses in to sing to her and give her some presents. We figured it would be fine and they sang fantastic and even gave Big Sis a present for being such a great big sister. We didn't really make a big deal of her birthday since we were planning on throwing her a big party after we got home.

That last morning, the wonderful nurse on duty went through the parent education test with me (she said Molly wouldn't be discharged until we finished the test) and went through which medications do what and when they are to be taken. She then showed me how to administer the ceftazidime into Molly's IV port. After we finished all that, I felt I was ready to take some sort of nursing exam and start work! The oncologist came in around noon to administer the pegaspargase chemo and then we watched for any allergic reactions for 2 hours.

Precisely at 4:00pm on Saturday we were allowed to take Molly home. That drive home was surreal because for the whole week it was like we were living in a strange dream that I was going to wake up from at any moment. And then suddenly we're in the car with Big Sis and Molly and Daddy and me and we're going HOME!

Molly sure was happy to get home and get back to her usual activities.

All of Molly's medications, minus the ceftazidime.

P.S.

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